After an awkward issue arose between some midwifery colleagues over use of each other’s materials without consent I was prompted to write this page.

I believe all information is knowledge, knowledge is power and therefore should be shared to empower women. All information contained in this blog is my original work, from knowledge amassed throughout my midwifery career. I have worked very hard and am proud of the work I have done, so have marked photos, artwork and text as copyright Birth Joy Ltd(c). When I have used someone else’s material I will credit them in the text. I respectfully request that you do likewise. Please pass on information from my website but please remember to quote the origins of your information out of respect.

Photos are copyright to the photographer. I am very lucky that when I’ve taken birth photos, some women have given me permission to use these for teaching purposes, others have let me use their photos on my website. Some have allowed me to share with other midwives and one allowed publication in a midwifery text book. Many women have not, and I respect their right to do so.

A woman this week asked me one of the things that make me want to get on my soapbox about assertiveness and women’s rights. What she said was “are you allowed to give birth to a breech baby?” My response, as ever, to this type of question is “it you who allows or disallows your care providers to do anything to you or your baby. Nothing can be done to you or your baby at home or in a hospital setting, without your consent. You are a mentally competent adult making rational decisions about your care, and you, more than anyone, has the best interests of your baby at the foremost in your mind”.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), that govern all practicing midwives, provide information to midwives and nurses on the issue of consent:

The problem may lie with the allocation of power and responsibility in maternity care. Midwives and doctors are in a uniquely privileged position to be able to serve women at such a vulnerable time in their lives. We train long and hard to amass knowledge to help those we care for, but we should not use this to control or coerce women into what we think they should do. We are after all “Professional Servants” (Mary Cronk). We are there to serve the families we care for, but it is also our professional duty to inform them of any risks associated with their choices. The Nursing and Midwifery council (which regulates all midwives and nurses) has rules and codes of conduct advising us how to support our clients such as:

1. You must treat people as individuals and respect their dignity

2. You must not discriminate in any way against those in your care

3. You must treat people kindly and considerately

4. You must act as an advocate for those in your care, helping them to access relevant health and social care, information and support

5. You must respect people’s right to confidentiality.

6. You must ensure people are informed about how and why information is shared by those who will be providing their care.

7. You must disclose information if you believe someone may be at risk of harm, in line with the law of the country in which you are practising.

8. You must listen to the people in your care and respond to their concerns and preferences.

9. You must support people in caring for themselves to improve and maintain their health

10. You must recognise and respect the contribution that people make to their own care and wellbeing.

11. You must make arrangements to meet people’s language and communication needs.

12. You must share with people, in a way they can understand, the information they want or need to know about their health.

Point number 2 was obviously not read or understood by midwives who attended a woman’s home birth. The woman was from a particular religious group and her partner was from a different ethnic group. The woman phoned me as a result of midwife harassment in her current pregnancy, and in telling me her previous birth experiences said the midwives at one of her previous births had made racist remarks! I was livid and asked if she had complained – no she hadn’t! this is so wrong on so many levels I don’t know where to start! Harassing heavily pregnant women, and going against their wishes in labour is not acceptable but racism from a so called professional is a disciplinary offence. I gave the woman information and advice to make written complaints about current and previous problems, and gave her AIMS contact details.

Another part of our rules concerns consent:

13. You must ensure that you gain consent before you begin any treatment or care.

14. You must respect and support people’s rights to accept or decline treatment and care.

15. You must uphold people’s rights to be fully involved in decisions about their care.

16. You must be aware of the legislation regarding mental capacity, ensuring that people who lack capacity remain at the centre of decision making and are fully safeguarded.

17. You must be able to demonstrate that you have acted in someone’s best interests if you have provided care in an emergency.

Whether your care provider will like or dislike your choices should be no concern of yours. I personally don’t like junk food, but understand that some people know the risks of consuming it, and still chose to do so. I may offer education about the risks, but wouldn’t dream of telling people not to do it just because I don’t like it myself. This applies to many areas of midwifery care, for example if you are told you are not allowed to give birth at home it would be good to ask if there are specific risks you need to be aware of, before thanking your health professional for their opinion, informing them that you will consider what they’ve said very carefully and let them know you will let them know your decision in due course (Taken from Mary Cronk’s assertiveness phrases). Consider how your care provider would actually be able to force you to do anything against your will (sadly, women have informed me of social services being used as a threat in some circumstances!).

REMEMBER: You do not have to ask permission to do anything which concerns your own body or your baby. Politely question your caregivers, do your own research then take responsibility for your choices! Your body, your baby, your choice!

AIMS the Association for the Improvement in Marternity Services has a great website and provides telephone support for anyone having trouble finding good maternity care. Please consider becoming a member or making a donation to their good work. x

Breech birth is a very complex subject which needs in depth discussion with your care provider. I am lucky to have worked with one of the UK’s most experienced breech birth midwives, Mary Cronk, learning what I can about these unusual, but not abnormal presentations. I have attended several breech births and taught alongside Mary Cronk, and Shawn Walker. I am happy to provide information and birth support for those carrying a breech presenting baby.

The Breech Birth Network run study days for health professionals and others wishing to learn more about spontaneous breech birth. This is a different set of skills to those needed to “Deliver” a breech baby which is a hands-on medical technique. Spontaneous breech birth is a hands off birth which can be facilitated by experienced midwives. The Royal College of Midwives consider this a normal type of birth.

Although breech is a normal presentation it carries additional risks compared with a head down birth. Breech babies are often born swiftly and spontaneously, but sometimes manouvers or surgery are needed to ensure baby is born safely. For this reason I recommend hospital birth with experienced care providers for breech presenting babies.

There are many things you can do to encourage a breech babyto turn see the brilliant spinning babies website or the very funny pregnant chicken blog. The majority of babies who present as breech in pregnancy will turn head down by 36/37 weeks. If baby has not turned by 36/37 weeks of pregnancy you may be offered an External Cephalic Version (ECV) in hospital.

This ECV video shows the technique used. The success rates (aprox 50%) vary with practitioner, whether it is your first baby, type of breech, how much fluid, size of baby etc. There is a small risk (1 in 200) of the baby becoming distressed during the procedure and needing immediate delivery by caesarean. More information is available here.

Breech babies can of course be born vaginally, but some doctors recommend caesarean surgery to deliver breech babies. Those doctors are probably basing their recommendation on the flawed Hannah trial (also called the Term Breech Trial or TBT) results. The TBT study seemed to indicate that babies born vaginally had worse outcomes than those born by caesarean, but when the outcomes were looked at 2 years later there were no differences in outcomes for the babies, but there are differences for the mother recovering from abdominal surgery. There have been many studies since, such as the PREMODA study (reported on at the 2012 breech birth conference) which show no differences in outcomes for breech babies born vaginally or by caesarean section. It is very important that you have a skilled midwife or doctor caring for you whichever type of birth you have.

The information and criteria which doctors use to determine who is a good candidate for sucessful vaginal birth can be found here. Please bear in mind that this green top guideline was published in 2006 and there has been lots of research done since then! I attended the International Breech Birth Conference in Washington DC in November 2012 and am eagerly awaiting the data soon to be published by Dr Frank Louven and his team in Frankfurt. See more information from the conference in Dr Rixa Freeze’s fantastic blog here.

See beautiful breech birth videos here:

A first baby born Frank Breech at home. Attended by a gentle doctor, this is a good illustration of spontaneous breech birth. The doctor does use a manouvre to help the baby’s head be born, and the baby doesn’t breathe immediately (this is fairly typical of breech born babies). You will notice how the doctor wisely does not cut the umbilical cord and how baby just requires stimulation to start breathing within a minute. Click here

A wonderful video of breech birth at home in water. It is the woman’s 4th baby and I can’t help wondering if baby would have got herself out sooner if the mother was in the supine position so buoyancy would have lifted baby’s body? The reverse of dry land breech birth, when the mother is on all fours and the baby descends aided by gravity. Anyway it’s a beautiful birth and a lesson to midwives that babies play an active part in the birth process. You tube beautiful breech waterbirth

Another you tube film of planned breech birth at home clearly illustrating baby lifting her legs to flex her head (necessary for birth of the aftercoming head). It also shows how quickly breech babies can be born (this is the woman’s third baby), the midwife makes a very good catch of this little one! click on link Breech homebirth

There is also a lovely DVD you can buy which tells one woman’s story of deciding which birth was right for her and her baby. its called A Breech in The System. See the trailer here and order your copy here

Of course I’m not saying all babies can, or should be born vaginally, but many can, and women should be given balanced information so they can make informed decisions about their care.

Just returned from a wonderful week in Spain. I met the wonderful Vanessa Brooks for the first time this year, and offered to share my experiences of breech births with her in Spain.

Unfortunately I was only able to spend 24hrs at the Midwives Rock workshop, as my family had accompanied me and were eager to do other holiday activities.
I taught at Da a Luz for 5 hours on the Saturday. I shared my experiences and knowledge that breech birth is unusual but not abnormal, and breech babies can be born vaginally as well as by caesarean. Although Breech birth is a variation of the normal I also taught that breech birth carries some additional risks for the baby however he is born, so careful monitoring of the progress of labour and baby’s well-being is essential.
It was a real pleasure to work with Vanessa and to meet Adela Stockton and all the other wonderful birth workers.
I look forward to teaching with Vanessa again in June 2012 in Brighton UK.

Had a wonderfully nourishing time with Vanessa and other like-minded birth workers in the summer of 2012! We talked about birth of the placenta, control of bleeding, orgasmic birth and so much more. Then it was my turn to contribute alongside Marta Orbis and Vanessa Brooks teaching about breech births and difficult births. Can’t wait to work with Vanessa again next year. xxx

A wonderful film about midwives work, including helping support communities after natural disasters. Very moving indeed. I’ve seen it twice and have been moved to tears each time. click on the link below to view.